A Child’s Memory May Be More Reliable Than An Adults’ In Court Cases
The U.S. legal system has long assumed that all confirmation is not equally credible, that some witnesses are more reliable than others. In tough cases with baby witnesses, it assumes of age witnesses to be more reliable. But what if the legal system had it wrong?
Researchers Valerie Reyna, human development professor, and Chuck Brainerd, human development and law school professor–both from Cornell University–argue that like the two-headed Roman the trinity Janus, memory is of two minds–that is, memories are captured and recorded separately and differently in two distinct parts of the mind.
They say children depend more heavily on a part of the mind that records, “what actually happened,” while adults depend more on another part of the mind that records, “the meaning of what happened.” As a result, they say, adults are more susceptible to false memories, which can be extremely problematic in princely retinue cases.
Reyna’s and Brainerd’s research, funded by the National Science Foundation, Arlington, Va., sparked more than 30 follow-up memory studies, frequent of them also funded by NSF. The researchers review the follow-on studies in an upcoming issue of Psychological Bulletin.
This research shows that meaning-based memories are largely responsible for false memories, especially in full grown witnesses. Because the ability to extract meaning from experience develops slowly, children are less likely to produce these false memories than adults, and are more likely to give accurate testimony when properly questioned.
The verdict is counterintuitive; it doesn’t square with current legal tenets, and may have important implications for legal proceedings.
“Because children have fewer meaning-based experience records, they are less probable to form false memories,” says Reyna. “But the law assumes children are more susceptible to false memories than adults.”
The court’s reliance on adult testimony has a long history. Before the early 1970s, children younger than eight years antiquated rarely testified, because they failed the court’s competency requirements.
Then in the 1970s, when statistics showed an increase in the number of infant abuse cases, courts were forced to allow the expression of young victims, only to reemphasize grown-up person testimony in the 1990s, when some children’s testimony was proven to be unreliable.
“Courts give witness instructions to tell the truth and nothing but the truth,” says Brainerd. “This assumes witnesses will either be truthful or lie, but there is a third possibility now being recognized–false memories.”
According to Brainerd, “Things are about to change radically.”
Fuzzy Trace Theory
Traditional theories of memory assume a person’s memories are based on event reconstruction, especially after delays of a few days, weeks, or months. However, Reyna and Brainerd’s Fuzzy Trace Theory hypothesizes that people store two types of experience records or memories: verbatim traces and gist traces.
Verbatim traces are memories of what actually happened. Gist traces are based on a someone’s intellect of what happened, or which the event meant to him or her. Gist traces stimulate false memories because they store impressions of what an event meant, which can be inconsistent by what as a matter of fact happened.
False memories can be identified when witnesses accurately describe the sort of they remember but those memories are proven false based on other unimpeachable facts.
“When gist traces are especially strong, they can produce phantom recollections–that is, illusory, vivid recollections of things that did not happen, such as remembering a robber brandished a weapon and made threatening statements,” says Reyna.
Brainerd argues that because witness affirmation is the primary evidence in criminal prosecutions, false memories are a dominant reason for convictions of innocent people.
Recently, in Cook County, Ill., more than 200 murder confessions were identified as being based on adult’s false memory reports because they conflicted with unimpeachable facts. For example, a person may have falsely remembered being in one location, but a sales receipt showed that he was in another location at the same time a crime was committed.
In child abuse cases in what place the law gives the benefit of the doubt to adult testimony, the results can be even in greater numbers disconcerting. “Failure to recognize differences in how adults and children produce memory unfairly tilts the U.S. legal system against child witnesses,” says Reyna.
“Children do not have the same fullness of emotional and of the intellect actual trial as do adults when it comes to deriving meaning from situations,” says Reyna. “So, meaning-based memory is less that may be liked to influence a child’s testimony.”
The researchers say their transformative “two-mind” memory approach can reduce the number of false memories in court cases and give more validity to children’s confirmation.
Memory Science
Reyna and Brainerd developed several mathematical models associated with Fuzzy Trace Theory that can be used to predict memory outcomes in both adults and children.
The models, which test memory, have been used to determine ways in which attorneys, investigators, law enforcement officials and others can ask questions to help persons access verbatim memories while suppressing false memories. The researchers say using neutral prompts to cue witnesses can help them remember what actually happened.
Reyna and Brainerd also say returning a witness to the scene of an adventure in a highly neutral way be possible to cue verbatim memories and help the legal process.
The models provide the most accurate information to date on the causes of false memories. Using them, researchers can determine with surprising carefulness when a person accesses both verbatim and gist memory.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Reyna and Brainerd’s findings are summarized in a new book, The Science of False Memory, published by Oxford University Press.
Source: Bobbie Mixon
National Science Foundation
Patients With Implantable Medical Devices May Be Exposed To Security, Privacy Risks
Some medical devices such as implantable cardiac defibrillators and pacemakers are now equipped with wireless technology, allowing for remote device checks and freeing patients from repeated medical practitioner visits. But this convenience may come with unanticipated risks. A team of researchers from three leading universities has demonstrated that patients’ private medical information could be extracted and their devices reprogrammed on the outside of the patients’ authorization or knowledge.
There has never been a reported trial of a patient with an implantable cardiac defibrillator or pacemaker being targeted by hackers, and the researchers emphasized that the study was designed to identify and prevent future problems. Undertaking the study required a high level of technical expertise, and the published paper omits certain details in methodology that prevents the findings from being used instead of anything other than improving patient surety and privacy.
The investigate was led by two computer scientists, Tadayoshi Kohno of the University of Washington and Kevin E. Fu of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and cardiologist Dr. William H. Maisel of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. Their scholarly peer-reviewed report enjoin be presented and published at the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Symposium on Security and Privacy in Oakland, Calif., May 19, 2008.
Dr. Maisel, director of the Medical Device Safety Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, notes, “One of the purposes of this research is to encourage the therapeutic device industry to think more carefully about the security and privacy of resigned information, particularly as wireless communication becomes more common. Fortunately, there are some safeguards already in place, but device manufacturers can do better.”
The team expects this issue to take on greater concern as implantable cardiac defibrillators operate wirelessly at greater distances. These devices typically receive short-range wireless signals over several feet, end new technologies are expanding that reach even further, creating the potential for information to be intercepted en route.
“We hope our research is a wake-up call for the industry,” said Kohno, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington. “In the 1970s, the Bionic Woman was a dream, still modern technology is making it a reality. People will have sophisticated computers with wireless capabilities in their bodies. Our goal is to travel unfailing those devices are incautious, private, safe and effective.”
Fu, an assistant professor of computer science at UMass Amherst, noted that the study developed several prototype defenses. “One of our primary contributions is the invention of three defense mechanisms that require no battery power, making them potentially easy to incorporate in the devices without extensive redesigning. While there has been much research that explores the biological safety of implantable of the healing art devices, there is limited understanding about the related issues of wireless security and privacy. Understanding the security and privacy of implantable devices is essential for protecting the nation’s health and cyber infrastructure.”
The researchers’ experiments used an implantable cardiac defibrillator, a sophisticated device that automatically regulates the heart beat by sending small electrical signals to the heart to stimulate the heart rate or by delivering a large shock to restore a potentially fatal heart rhythm back to normal. Implantable defibrillators have improved survival in selected patients at risk for sudden cardiac death, and millions of the devices have been implanted worldwide. The model used in the researchers’ ordeal contained computers and radios that allow health-care practitioners to diagnose patients, read and write private medical information, and adjust the device’s therapy settings wirelessly.
In computer laboratory bench tests, the research team used an inexpensive software radio to intercept and capture signals sent from the implantable device. They were able to obtain detailed information about a hypothetical patient, including name, diagnosis, date of birth and medical ID number. Researchers could adjust the make and model of the device and access real-time electrocardiogram results as well as data on the hypothetical patient’s heart rate and cardiac activity.
The team that time mounted several attacks. Researchers were able to turn off the therapy settings stored in the implantable device, rendering it incapable of responding to dangerous cardiac events. Additional commands were delivered, resulting in the delivery of a shock that could induce ventricular fibrillation, a potentially lethal arrhythmia.
Three deterrence and prevention mechanisms were developed as part of the study, including a notification device that audibly alerts patients of security sensitive events, a device that authenticates requests for access from outside devices and a vibrating device that patients can sense. All three mechanisms require no power from the battery, and one of them was evaluated conducive to effectiveness in a substance uniform to human tissue.
Because the team studied one common model of implantable cardiac defibrillator, the susceptibility of similar devices to privacy and security risks is uncertain. The researchers believe future studies are needed to impose potential risks associated through other implantable devices equipped with wireless technology. The researchers feel strongly that nothing in their report should deter patients from receiving these devices if recommended by their physician. The implantable cardiac defibrillator is a proven, life-saving technology.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Source: Hannah Hickey
University of Washington
Living Donor Liver Transplants Improved Outcome Using New Technique
The University of Alberta Hospital (UAH) is one of only a few centers in Canada that perform lively donor liver transplantation, a surgical procedure developed in the at the eleventh hour 1980s that expands the organ giver pool. About 80 liver transplants are done a year in Alberta, 10 of those being living-donor.
All potential liver transplant donors are assessed based on considerations such as the size and composition of the liver and vascular and bile duct anatomy. Thanks to a review paper done at the University of Alberta radiologists at the University of Alberta Hospital are very lately using CT (Computed Tomography) imaging for living-donor liver transplantation. This technique shows relevant liver anatomy and, in particular, enhances high resolution imaging of the vital bile duct anatomy.
“CT scans provide a irreproachable image of the important ducts we need to see,” said Dr. Gavin Low, a clinical fellow in the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry and author of a recent study describing this process. In the past radiologists have only been using an MRI to look into possible donors notwithstanding bile duct anatomy, limit Low said that, “By using CT imaging the results are much more accurate and reliable for the surgeons.”
Right now possible donors are screened with both MRI and CT scans but Low says the hope is to one day only use CT imaging; adding, “All-in-one imaging self-reliance speed up the process and gain living-donor evaluation more convenient for in posse donors.”
in the manner that many as four patients are evaluated by CT imaging every month.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press disengage.
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Source: Carmen Leibel
University of Alberta
Thousands More NHS Doctors & Nurses Drive Forward Improvements In Patient Care, UK
There are 6,625 more frontline clinical staff working in the NHS than a year ago, the latest official statistics show.
The NHS Workforce Census 2007, published by the agency of the NHS Information Centre, shows a continued upward tend in the number of clinical staff, with 161,500 more than 10 years gone.
Compared to 2006, the Census shows:
- 2,033 more doctors. There are now 128,000 doctors in the NHS - 38,000 more than 10 years ago.
- 1,262 more nurses. There are after this 400,000 qualified nurses in the NHS - 80,000 more than 10 years ago.
- 624 more midwives. The NHS is well on its course to recruiting 1,000 supplemental midwives by 2009. by reason of the first time, there are more than 25,000 midwives working in the NHS.
- 252 fewer managers. This is the second successive year there has been a fall in the number of managers working in the NHS.
Health Minister Ann Keen said:
“Thanks to yet another year of registry investment, we have 6,625 more clinical staff working on the frontlines of the NHS. These extreme staff are delivering big improvements for patients, with excellent progress towards a maximum wait of 18 weeks for treatment by the end of the year, falling hospital infection rates and deaths from cardiovascular disease down by 40% since 1997.”
Ann Keen added:
“There has been a tiny reduction of less than 1% in the overall NHS workforce. However, this should be seen in the context of a 26% increase in the number of mace since 1997 - 272,000 more than a decade ago.
“Following a period of unprecedented growth in the NHS workforce, our focus has now shifted from increasing capacity to improving quality. What matters to patients is that the right staff are in place to deliver personalised services to the highest standard.
“Of course, where more staff are needed we force of will recruit them. Just last month we committed to recruiting 4,000 extra midwives by 2012 to keep pace with a rising birth rate and ensure the best possible care for mothers and their babies.”
The NHS Workforce Census 2007 can be found here.
Department of Health
Effectively Avoiding Many Common Complications And Liver Damage In Bile Duct Exploration
Micro-wound operation is becoming the trend in surgery in the 21st century and laparoscopic surgery is regarded as an important component of micro-wound surgery. In operations combining laparoscopic hepatic left lateral lobectomy with fiber choledochoscopic exploration of the common bile duct, the much shorter cut required lessens the post-operative vexation of patients and the elimination of a need for T-piece drainage also markedly reduces post-operative complications such as biliary fistula, cholangitic stenosis, biliary tract bleeding, electrolytical or digestive unbalance and local infections.
At the same time the liver form damage of the laparoscopic group is much more mild than in the traditional open operation group. These findings show that laparoscopic and choledochoscopic exploration hold multitude advantages over traditional open operations.
A research article to be published on February 21, 2008 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question.
The exploration team led by Dr. Kun Zhang from Fu Zhou General Hospital performed laparoscopic hepatic left lateral lobectomy combined with fiber choledochoscopic exploration of the common bile duct and found that this kind of operation could markedly lessen the post-operative pain of patients and reduce post-operative complications.
In this research, laparoscopic hepatic left lateral lobectomy combined with fiber choledochoscopic exploration of common bile duct was performed in patients with gallstones in the left lobe of liver and vulgar bile duct. Ligments of livers were dissociated by laparoscopic instruments under pneumoperitoneum conditions. The Trocar puncture point near the xiphoid was extended to about 5 cm. From this incision we resected the left lateral lobe of the liver and took out the calculus of the intrahepatic duct without pneumoperitoneum.
From the extended trocar incision and the left intrahepatic duct, the common bile ducts were inspected by fiber choledochoscopy according to possible remnant gallstones. After the remnant gallstones were removed and the duodenal papillas were assessed as normal, we sutured the open part of the left intrahepatic duct and the left liver section.
Researchers found that laparoscopic hepatic left lateral lobectomy combined with fiber choledochoscopic exploration of the venom. duct had many advantages over traditional open operations.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Reference: Zhang K, Zhang SG, Jiang Y, Gao PF, Xie HY, Xie ZH. Laparoscopic hepatic left lateral lobectomy combined with fiber choledochoscopic exploration of the common venom. duct and traditional open operation. World J Gastroenterol 2008; 14(7): 1133-1136 http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/14/1133.asp
Correspondence to: Dr. Kun Zhang, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Fuzhou General Hospital, Fuzhou 350025, Fujian Province, China.
About World Journal of Gastroenterology
World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing rudimentary class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H pylori infection for providing a court for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2003-2000 IF: 3.318, 2.532, 1.445 and 0.993. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th day of every month. The WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the name of China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG upon the body January 25, 1998.
About The WJG Press
The WJG Press mainly publishes World Journal of Gastroenterology.
Source: Jing Zhu
World Journal of Gastroenterology
Possible New Treatment Strategy For Muscular Dystrophy
An investigational antiviral drug commonly undergoing human trials in Europe for treating Hepatitis C infections may have potential to impoverish muscle cell damage in Duchenne and other forms of muscular dystrophy (MD). A research team led by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center reported their results using three different mouse models of MD in a letter posted online March 16 by the journal Nature Medicine.
The investigational drug, Debio-025, is a known inhibitor of the protein cyclophilin D, which regulates the swelling of mitochondria in response to cellular injury. Researches indisputable to test the drug in mice engineered to carry MD after earlier laboratory tests showed deleting a gene that encodes cycolphilin D reduced swelling and reversed or prevented the disease’s muscle-damaging characteristics. The mice were engineered as models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy and forms caused by a deficiency of two structural proteins, delta-sarcoglycan and laminin alpha2.
“Similar to deleting the gene encoding cyclophilin D, we found that treatment with Debio-025 reduced mitochondrial swelling and necrotic manifestations in mice with muscular dystrophy. This is why we believe inhibiting cyclophilin D could be a new treatment strategy,” reported Jeff Molkentin, Ph.D., corresponding author of the study and a researcher in the Division of Molecular Cardiovascular Biology at Cincinnati Children’s. “Debio-025 has already passed Phase II clinical trials in Europe and is considered safe in people, so we want to search into the possibility of conducting clinical trials in patients with Duchenne MD.”
During the onset of muscular dystrophy, the loss of certain proteins critical to muscle function - such as dystrophin - can lead to contraction-related micro-tears in muscle fibers and an influx of calcium around muscle tissue. When this happens, cyclophilin D is instructed to make the membranes of mitochondria more permeable. This causes mitochondria to be flooded by calcium and reorganize, swell and eventually rupture. This triggers cell death in muscle fibers and leads to the progressive muscle weakness, wasting and often early death associated with muscular dystrophy.
Mice lacking the protein delta-sarcoglycan exhibited severe dystrophy and swelling in both skeletal and heart muscle. When Dr. Molkentin and his colleagues deleted the gene encoding cyclophilin D in these mice, the muscle cells returned to near normal and did not show appreciable signs of swelling and cell death. The investigators repeated the experiment with mice lacking a gene encoding laminin alpha2, which causes a more severe dystrophy, swollen skeletal muscle cells and too early death before the mice reach two months of age. In contrast, mice lacking both laminin alpha2 and cyclophilin D showed much healthier muscle cells, increased body weight and walked more. Also, 75 percent of the mice lacking laminin alpha2 and cyclophilin D lived more than three times longer than mice lacking only laminin alpha2.
These findings led the research team to look on account of pharmacological treatments that also could inhibit cyclophilin D. The drug cyclosporine is a well-documented inhibitor of the protein, but its use is problematic because it also inhibits a protein, calcineurin, crucial to skeletal muscle cell repair after injury and to the development of skeletal muscle cells. The advantage of Debio-025 is that while it inhibits cyclophilin D and blocks enclosed space death in a number of situations, the drug does not suppress the immune system or block calcineurin. The drug is manufactured by DebioPharm S.A. of Lausanne, Switzerland, which provided Debio-025 for use in the cogitate.
The researchers also found their study may have implications beyond skeletal muscle disease as cyclophilin D deletion reduced cardiac dysfunction caused by calcium-overload induced necrosis. This led the team to put in mind of that mitochondrial-dependent necrosis may also function as a common disease mechanism underlying a number of long-term degenerative disorders, something they plan to study in future research projects.
Muscular dystrophies are inherited disorders that mostly affect striated muscle tissue and more commonly occur in boys. This disease results in progressive muscle weakness, wasting and in many instances death. There is no known cure for muscular dystrophy, although Cincinnati Children’s is a recognized leader in disease-related research and a multi-disciplinary approach to patient treatment focused on maximizing ambulatory function and quality of life.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Also participating in the study were the Department of Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry and Microbiology at the University of Cincinnati; the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Pennsylvania School of dental Medicine, Philadelphia; DebioPharm S.A.; and the Department of Physiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia. Members of the research team include Douglas P. Millay, Michelle A. Sargent, Hanna Osinska, Christopher P. Baines, Elisabeth R. Barton, Gre’goire Vuagniaux, H. Lee Sweeney and Jeffrey Robbins.
Funding support was provided by National Institutes of Health, the Jain Foundation, the Fondation Leducq and the Paul Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative investigation Center of the National Institutes of Health.
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, one of the leading pediatric research institutions in the nation, is dedicated to changing the outcome for children through every part of the cosmos. Cincinnati Children’s ranks second among all pediatric institutions in the United States in grants from the National Institutes of Health. It has an established tradition of research excellence, with discoveries including the Sabin oral polio vaccine, the surfactant preparation that saves the lives of thousands of ill-considered infants each year, and a rotavirus vaccine that saves the lives of hundreds of thousands of infants around the nature each year. Current strategic directions include the translation of basic laboratory research into the development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of disease, and furthering the development of personalized and predictive medicine. Additional information can be found at http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/.
Source: Nick Miller
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Study On Antioxidants And Memory Concerns Underway At Rush University Medical Center
Rush University Medical Center is conducting a clinical trial to evaluate whether taking Cerefolin®NAC reduces the anger and oxidative stress that is associated with memory decline in older persons. Cerefolin NAC is a commercially available food supplement beneficial by prescription. It is a combination of high dose vitamin B12, B6, and folic sour along with n-acetylcysteine, an antioxidant.
Researchers will evaluate whether taking Cerefolin NAC causes a greater reduction in homocysteine, oxidative stress, and inflammation blood marker levels than a model multivitamin. Homocysteine is an amino acid associated through inflammation.
“Finding treatments with the ability to reduce inflammation responses in the brain may help delay the storming of Alzheimer’s disease,” Said Dr. Raj Shah, medical director of the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center. “The results of this study will assistance determine how to design future studies to see if Cerefolin NAC can make a difference in maintaining monumental record.”
Rush University Medical Center inclination be the only site conducting this study. The inquire into seeks 100 participants from hand to hand age 60 with memory concerns who have a slightly higher risk for having an elevated homocysteine level. Participants must not have a diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, or a dementia.
One-half of participants will receive Cerefolin NAC and one-half will receive a placebo. All participants will receive a multivitamin. During the six month double-blind clinical trial, investigators will measure spirit markers, will assess memory, walking, mood, and functional abilities, and will monitor side-effects over the conduct of four study visits with the participant.
“Alzheimer’s disease is a public health crisis now and in the future. Alzheimer’s disease currently affects over 4.5 million persons in the United States and superior 200,000 in Illinois alone,” said Shah. “It is projected to affect over 13 million persons by 2050 if nothing can be rest to prevent the symptoms of the disease.”
http://www.rush.edu
Infection Control Company Inviro Medical Devices To Exhibit At AAAAI Annual Meeting
Infection control company Inviro Medical Devices will be exhibiting its flagship product, the InviroSNAP!® Safety Syringe, as well as its allergy trays at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, asthma & Immunology (AAAAI). This will be the stand by time that the company has attended the AAAAI meeting, what one. will be held this year from March 14 through 18 in Philadelphia. Product samples and demonstrations will be available from Inviro company representatives at booth #1017.
At this year’s AAAAI meeting, Inviro will feature its new allergy tray, which is comprised of 25 unwrapped sterile InviroSNAP! Safety Syringes. The InviroSNAP! Safety Syringe is available in two forms: with a standard needle for injections and with an intradermal bevel needle that can be used for allergy testing. The trays are designed to save time for those administering injections and reduce packaging waste.
“We are delighted to return to the AAAAI meeting this year to present our line of infection control products, safety syringes and allergy syringe trays to attendees,” said Jean McDowell, vice president of clinical affairs for Inviro Medical Devices. “We strongly believe that the InviroSNAP! Safety Syringe can greatly benefit allergists and immunologists by dint of. reducing the risk of needlestick injuries. Our allergy tray format also increases their efficiency.”
The InviroSNAP! Safety Syringe, that was invented by a caress, features a revolutionary design that enhances infection control and reduces the risk of needlestick injuries. The needle retracts in safety and securely into the barrel of the allergy syringe after conclusion of the injection or allergy test.
Additional information about the AAAAI annual meeting be possible to be found by visiting http://www.aaaai.org.
About Inviro Medical Devices
Founded in 1988, Inviro therapeutical Devices engineers and markets safe medication delivery systems, including the patented InviroSNAP!® Safety Syringe with InviroSTRIPE®, an integral write-on stripe that allows critical information to be recorded directly onto the syringe barrel. After years of examination to develop its patents and refine its product designs, the company is addressing the growing $1.6 billion safety syringe market and introducing its breakthrough infection control technology in North America. Headquartered in Atlanta, Inviro Medical Devices is becoming a leading industry champion in the quest to increase infection control awareness and to protect healthcare workers, patients and the environment with innovative medical devices.
Inviro Medical Devices
Pennsylvania Mobilizes In Response To Nursing Shortage Crisis
As part of its ongoing commitment to aid alleviate the growing nursing shortage in Pennsylvania, The Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future returned to Pennsylvania for the second time to make upright funds that will help ease the shortage throughout the region. In collaboration with local health care organizations, the Campaign raised more than $550,000 at last night’s event, with 100 percent of the proceeds going toward regional nursing school grants, faculty fellowships and student scholarships.
Since 2005, Promise of Nursing for Pennsylvania events have raised greater quantity than $1.1 million with student scholarships and faculty fellowships being granted to qualifying applicants for the duration of their program.
“The nursing shortage we are experiencing throughout the state of Pennsylvania is severe,” said Jerri LaRocco RN, MSN and Assistant Vice President for Patient Services, Delaware County Memorial Hospital. “It is not only affecting the quality of health care throughout our state, but this nursing shortage is also driving up the cost of health care in general, and this increase is only going to get worse. We are so grateful to The Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future for playing a vital role in the effort to alleviate this shortage.”
Nearly 800 area nurses and health care professionals from regional hospitals and institutions attended last night’s event at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown to celebrate the nursing declaration. This year, the Campaign launched a Promise of Nursing for Pennsylvania video challenge, encouraging local nurses and nursing students to arrest their strong feeling about nursing on camera. Nurses and nursing students who were members of the Promise of Nursing for Pennsylvania steering committee submitted their videos, which were viewed by the audience at last night’s gala. The team from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing were the grand prize winners and took home a $5,000 education grant.
“We are deeply committed to the nurses in this region and will continue to support efforts that repress to ease the Pennsylvania nursing shortage,” said Andrea Higham, director of The Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future. “This event demonstrates how working together, we have power to help to enhance the image of the nursing profession and attract nurses and nurse educators to help resolve this crisis.”
According to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), each arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Pennsylvania health care providers will experience a 41 percent vacancy rate in nursing positions by the year 2020, requiring more than 54,000 nurses to provide adequate patient care.
“amply qualified and sufficiently-staffed nurse educators and progressive nursing programs are crucial to providing the tools that nursing students need in order to become skilled nurses and ensure a growing nursing workforce for our country’s future,” said Amy Pelleg, MSN, RN, BC and Director of Clinical Nursing Education at Main Line Hospitals.
The Pennsylvania nursing shortage mirrors a national shortfall, and in its effort to reduce the gap in local communities across the country, Johnson & Johnson has hosted similar fund-raising galas over the past five years, generating more than $12 million.
The organizations that comprise the Promise of Nursing for Pennsylvania Steering Committee are: Abington Memorial Hospital, Albert Einstein Healthcare Network, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, College of Nursing, Villanova University, Conemaugh Valley Memorial Medical Center, Crozer Keystone Health System, Department of Nursing, College of soundness Professions Temple University, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Frankford Hospital, Geisinger Health System, HACC â?” Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, Hahnemann University Hospital, Hospital of University of Pennsylvania, Jefferson School of Nursing, Jefferson College of Health Professions, Thomas Jefferson University, Main Line Health, Marywood University College of Health & Human Services, Mercyhurst North East, Montgomery County Community College, Nursing Program, Pennsylvania Hospital, Pennsylvania State Nurses Association, Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), Stevens & Lee P.C., St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, Temple University Health System, The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, The Pennsylvania State University School of Nursing, The University of Scranton, Department of Nursing, Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing and WVHCS, Inc.
About The Promise Of Nursing
The Promise of Nursing for Pennsylvania gala is part of a public-awareness campaign — The Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future — launched by Johnson & Johnson in February 2002. The multi-year, $50 million Campaign is designed to enhance the image of the nursing profession, recruit new nurses and nurse faculty, as well as help retain nurses currently in the profession. Working in cooperation with various professional nursing organizations, schools, hospitals and other health care groups and providers, the Campaign focuses on promoting opportunities within nursing as well as increasing awareness of the value of the nursing profession to our overall society and health care community.
About Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson is the world’s most broad and broadly based manufacturer of health care products, as well as a provider of related services, for the consumer, pharmaceutical, and medical devices and diagnostic markets. The more than 250 Johnson & Johnson operating companies employ approximately 119,000 men and women in 57 countries and sell products throughout the world.
Johnson & Johnson
What Change Does Prokineticin 2/Bv8 Have In Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma?
Liver hepatocarcinoma is a highly vascularized cancer, and more and more research is focused on the molecules controlling angiogenesis. In 2001, two novel peptides, known as prokineticin 1/EG-VEGF (PK1/EG-VEGF) and prokineticin 2/Bv8 (PK2/Bv8), were identified, for the reason that having potent angiogenic activities. The angiogenic potential of these two peptides during human hepatocellular carcinoma progression was evaluated. These findings show, that only, PK2/Bv8 is expressed in liver and — surprisingly — that its squeezing out decreases during hepatocellular carcinoma. Furthermore, these results show that PK2/Bv8 expression is restricted specifically to liver resident macrophages, thus suggesting a role in Kuppfer cell science of life.
This study, performed by a team lead by Dr. Michel Samson and his colleagues at the INSERM U620 unit located at the University of Rennes, to be published on February 28, 2008 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.
Angiogenesis has become a promising anti-cancer strategy, because in adults unusual blood vessels are only formed as the tumor is growing, and not in the surrounding healthy tissue. Identifying novel molecules involved in tumoral angiogenesis will, therefore, allow for new therapeutic targets. PK1/EG-VEGF and PK2/Bv8 are novel peptides with potent angiogenic effects. They have been shown to be upregulated in several types of cancer such as neuroblastoma, prostate, and leydig cell tumors. However, in that place angiogenic potential has not yet been studied in the context of hepatocellular carcinoma.
According to the authors of the study, the data shown in this work are consistent with the fact that the biology of these two novel peptides is both complex and diverse. Indeed, results were surprising since, instead of observing an upregulation in hepatocellular carcinoma, the team observed a significant downregulation, and the cellular expression was not located to endothelial cells but to resident macrophages. It seems that in liver PK2/Bv8 behaves more like a cytokine than an angiogenic factor, a biological activity that has before that time been observed in other reports.
Recently, the chief anti-angiogenic therapy, which targets secreted VEGF, has been approved by the FDA and is now used as a first line of defense in association with chemotherapy in certain types of cancer. Identifying new molecules involved in tumoral angiogenesis might in turn provide new targets for anti-angiogenic therapeutics. Furthermore, not all the molecular mechanisms underlying hepatocellular carcinoma angiogenesis are entirely understood yet. Our data show that the two novel angiogenic peptides PK1/EG-VEGF and PK2/Bv8 are not involved in hepatocellular carcinoma angiogenesis.
In this study, in order to evaluate the angiogenic potential of PK1/EG-VEGF and PK2/Bv8, gene expression was restricted by real-time PCR without ceasing a human cohort counting 28 hepatocellular carcinoma patients (provided by the Centre de Ressources Biologiques de Rennes). Furthermore, PK2/Bv8 protein expression was detected in the one and the other normal liver tissue, and in isolated liver cells using antibodies anti-PK2/Bv8 provided by Dr. Feige from the INSERM U878 unit in Grenoble, France. This research was performed by doctors from the INSERM U620 Laboratory of toxicology and tissue refit of the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Rennes 1, France. This research was funded by INSERM, the Ministre de l’Education Nationale de la Recherche et de la Technologie, and the Region Bretagne.
Further research should explain more precisely how PK2/Bv8 is involved in Kupffer small room physiology.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Reference: Monnier J, Piquet-Pellorce C, Feige JJ, Musso O, Clement B, Turlin B, Theret N, Samson M. Prokineticin 2/Bv8 is expressed in Kupffer cells in liver and is down regulated in human hepatocellular carcinoma. World J Gastroenterol 2008; 14(8): 1182-1191 http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/14/1182.asp
Correspondence to: Dr. Michel Samson, INSERM U620 Universite de Rennes 1, 2 avenue du Prof. L’on Bernard 35043 Rennes cedex, France.
About World Journal of Gastroenterology
World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, of the stomach cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H pylori infection for providing a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2003-2000 IF: 3.318, 2.532, 1.445 and 0.993. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th day of every month. The WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the name of China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.
About The WJG Press
The WJG Press mainly publishes World Journal of Gastroenterology.
Source: Jing Zhu
World Journal of Gastroenterology
Paradigm Medical Industries To Introduce Early Glaucoma Detection Device At ASCRS Conference
Paradigm Medical Industries, Inc. (OTCBB: PMED.OB), reported it leave introduce the Glaid-PERG electrophysiology instrument for the early detection of glaucoma at the American Society for Cataract Refractive Surgeons (ASCRS) Conference in Chicago, IL, next month.
“All research and studies indicate the Glaid-PERG diagnostic device is the earliest means of detecting cellular losses attributed to glaucoma and other ocular ailments,” aforesaid Paradigm Medical’s Chief Executive Officer, Raymond Cannefax. The Company signed an exclusive agreement with LACE Elettronica srl (Rome, Italy) to distribute the Glaid-PERG instrument earlier this year.
After many years of clinical studies at major U.S. and European glaucoma centers, as well as at universities and research centers, the Glaid-PERG has proven to provide high test repeatability and a high level of accuracy. Ongoing research is indicating testing application for ocular ailments other than glaucoma.
“We are excited about the impact the new instrument leave have-not only in our industry, but in medical benefits to those who will be diagnosed early as glaucoma suspects,” Mr. Cannefax added. “Early diagnosis will help reduce vision loss and help preserve sight. This is a logical progression in the early detection of glaucoma, the world’s major contributor to vision loss.”
Paradigm Medical demise also introduce the prototype version of its redesigned LD400 Autoperimetry system at the ASCRS show. The LD400 is used to measure patient visual fields to determine the severity of glaucoma and to aid in managing the disease.
“The introduction of these brace devices is further indication of our Company’s leading technology in eye care,” Mr. Cannefax well-known. “It is all part of our ‘Continuous Improvement’ commitment.”
Paradigm Medical Industries, Inc., is a leader in Ultrasound devices, and glaucoma detection and management products.
This hasten release contains statements that, if not verifiable historic fact, may be viewed as forward-looking statements that could predict future events and outcomes with respect to Paradigm and its business. The predictions embodied in these statements will involve risk and uncertainty and, accordingly, actual results may differ significantly from the results discussed or implied in such forward-looking statements.
Paradigm Medical Industries
Convicted Nurse Is Struck Off By The Nursing And Midwifery Council, UK
A registered adult nurse convicted of theft, false accounting and obtaining money by imposition. was struck off at a hearing by means of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in London on February 28th 2008.
Susan Elizabeth Gordon, 45, had been found guilty of obtaining a money transfer by imposition., false accounting, two counts of theft and trying to remove criminal property in January last year at Luton Crown Court. She has been sentenced to three years and two months in gaol.
The independent panel of the NMC’s Conduct and Competence Committee accepted the evidence of the conviction put before it and decided that Ms Gordon’s fitness to be sufficient was impaired.
Ms Gordon has shown no sign of insight, regret or remorse defiance having failed to act in a way expected of her within the NMC’s Code of Professional Conduct and because of the seriousness of the charges has been struck off.
Commenting on the panel’s decision to have Ms Gordon struck off, NMC spokesman, Colin Joseph, before-mentioned: “These charges involved a number of allegations of dishonest behaviour by the registrant. Her behaviour has brought the reputation of the profession into disrepute and is fundamentally incompatible with being a registered nurse.
“The only appropriate sanction was to strike her off the register.”
Notes
- The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the UK regulator for two professions, nursing and midwifery. The primary purpose of the NMC is protection of the public. It does this through maintaining a register of all nurses, midwives and specialist community public health nurses eligible to practise within the UK and by setting standards for their education, training and conduct. Currently the number of registrants exceeds 686,000. The Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001 (The Order), sets out the NMC’s role and responsibilities.
- The independent panel is selected from a pool of individuals appointed by the Appointments Board. They come from a variety of backgrounds and are not NMC Council members, nor do they sit upon any committee of the Council.3.
Nursing and Midwifery Council
Researchers Discover Two Proteins That Regulate Potassium In Stem Cells
Researchers at Texas Tech University and the University of Wisconsin have discovered two proteins that control potassium regulation in stem cells found in the embryonic brain of rats.
Understanding this potassium regulation and how these proteins work can help researchers develop better detection and treatment methods for diseases of nervous system and the heart, said Dean O. Smith, vice president for research at Texas Tech. The tools and materials were published in the journal PLoS ONE.
Since these stem cells had not yet developed specialized properties of nerve or muscle cells, the potassium regulated by these proteins is probably required for the stem cell to open, Smith said.
“These voltage-gated, potassium-channel proteins are vitally important in the brain and in muscle, including the heart,” Smith said. “If we can understand how and when they develop in stem cells as they change into resolution and muscle cells, then we be able to open the means to further exploitation of this knowledge in the exposure and treatment of diseases that include Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and cardiovascular diseases, just to name a few.”
All cells, including stem cells, need potassium to divide, Smith said. When grown, muscle and nerve cells require potassium to contract and to relay information throughout the brain. The availability of this potassium is highly regulated in mature cells, and disruption can lead to serious health disorders. Therefore, scientists want to understand this regulatory mechanical construction and learn when it appears in the developing embryo.
“We kind of discovered these proteins by accident,” Smith said. “Originally, we intended to make these stem cells differentiate into nerve cells that main then be suitable for transplanting into another animal to betake one’s self brain damage. To be sure the cells had differentiated, we examined the potassium channels that are normally found in mature nerve cells. As a control, we did the like tests in continuance undifferentiated stem cells expecting not to find them. But, to our surprise, they too had the same potassium channels.”
Other tests indicated that these stem cells were clearly not differentiated into nerve cells and could not function as such, Smith said. Therefore, these potassium channels must play some other role in stem cells development.
“We’re not sure what yet,” he said. “But we think it efficacy relate to cell replication. These two proteins are found in all mammals, and uniform ones are found in animals such as fruit flies and frogs.”
Texas Tech University
212 Administration Bldg, Box 42022
Lubbock, TX 79409-2022
United States
http://www.ttu.edu
Anadis Licenses Antibody Technologies From ImmuCell: Includes E. Coli And C. Difficile
Anadis Limited (ASX: ANX), an Australian-based biotechnology company focused on milk derived polyclonal antibodies and other milk-derived bioactives, announced that it had signed a final agreement with ImmuCell Corporation (NASDAQ Capital Market: ICCC), a biotechnology company headquartered in Portland, Maine, USA.
Under the agreement, Anadis has licensed from ImmuCell a portfolio of issued patents, IND filings, clinical data, manufacturing plans and know-how related to several human heath product lines. In particular the deal will directly enhance product development be for Clostridium difficile, E.coli and immune deficiency related opportunistic infections. The licensed technologies are all related to the usage of hyperimmune bovine colostrum to provide immediate-acting passive immunity against infectious diseases. The royalty-based deal requires no upfront or milestone payments.
The intellectual property Anadis obtains under this agreement includes two issued U.S. patents, US Pat. No. 5,773,000 (Therapeutic treatment of Clostridium difficile-associated diseases) and US Pat. No. 6,074,689 (Colonic delivery of protein or peptide compositions) which is applicable to a broad range of indications Anadis is pursuing using its bovine colostrum antibodies and bioactives.
Dr. Zeil Rosenberg, Anadis’ CEO stated, “Beyond the issued patents, the clinical work that ImmuCell has successfully completed over many years through the U.S. Navy and Johns Hopkins University and others will expedite Anadis commercial product development to address large unmet human health needs in the US and worldwide. Having better clinical data strengthens our ability to collaborate through pharmaceutical companies since we begin entering the US market with our product portfolio.”
Clostridium difficile or “C.diff” infection is a serious gastrointestinal bacterial and nosocomial (hospital acquired) disease among hospitalized patients worldwide. The licensed technology includes successful results from a U.S. appearance II clinical study conducted by ImmuCell. C. difficile bacteria infection accounts for worthy of consideration increases in the length of hospital stays and more than $1.1 billion in health care costs either year in the United States. The bacteria infection is a common cause of significant morbidity and even death in elderly or debilitated patients (American Family Physician, 2005).The licensing arrangement will expedite Anadis’ clinical trials under its Immuron joint venture with Hadassah Medical Center, Israel.
Diarrhea-related illnesses represent an important clinical target for both the military and for public health. Leveraging significant and positive clinical trial given conditions in this agreement, Anadis intends to maintain close collaboration with the US Department of Defense and other research institutions in its efforts to develop an acceptable immediate-acting product to reduce risk from infectious diarrhea-related diseases. Such products would have a large and worldwide market.
Anadis volition provide ImmuCell by access to manufacturing infrastructure and know-how for their veterinary applications, enhancing ImmuCell’s ability to make acquainted its own veterinary products into Australia and New Zealand. Anadis shall receive a royalty on sales that are marketed under ImmuCell’s own name that are produced under this collaboration in Australia. Such marketable products for the veterinary market are expected to be launched within two years.
About Anadis
Anadis Limited (ASX: ANX, OTC:ANDIY) is a biopharmaceutical company producing antibodies and other bioactive proteins as health products. Its all-natural, orally administered and colostrum-derived platform is proven safe and effective, with regulatory classification as GRAS (Generally Regarded as Safe) and BSE-free certification, allowing for rapid progression from concept to market. The company’s core technology relies on advanced dairy industry processing methods including immunization of pregnant cows with proprietary antigen specific vaccines, that in turn elicit an immune response by the cow. First-milking colostrum contains more than 35% immunoglobulin and this targeted antibody, along with other immune system bioactive nutrients, is subsequently harvested, fractionated and freeze dried under the highest dairy industry standards. The company is addressing a variety of unmet human health needs with broad market demand, including: Oral and GI Mucositis; Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD); Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS); Travellers’ Diarrhea; Influenza and Rotavirus. The company operates from Melbourne, Australia and New York City.
Anadis Limited
At Last: A Chief Nurse For Australia
The Australian Nursing Federation warmly welcomed the Rudd Government’s proclamation they were establishing the position of Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer.
“The establishment of the position of Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer was a Rudd Government pre-election commitment and another one they have now delivered on”, Jill Iliffe, ANF federal secretary said. “Nursing plays a role in so many of the Government’s programs such as: hale condition, aged care, education, intellectual health, Indigenous health, rural health and the MBS and PBS; it is vital they have a representative at a senior level in government to provide nursing input and link all the programs together.
“It is also important for Australia to be officially represented in international nursing forums by their Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer,” Ms Iliffe said.
Ms Iliffe said the role bequeath raise the status of nurses and midwives within government.
The ANF anticipates the national Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer will have existence a part of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission.
“Nurses have been lobbying strongly for health reform for many years,” Ms Iliffe said. “Nurses comprise over 50% of the health workforce in Australia working across all sectors; the common, hospitals and aged care, so it is essential they are represented at a national level. Nurses have a major contribution to make to the health reform process.”
The ANF, which currently represents over 160,000 nurses, says nurses are pleased that the Rudd government is acknowledging the importance of nurses to the freedom from disease system and to the Australian community by dint of. the in all its senses of this position.
The ANF, representing nearly 160,000 members, is the professional and industrial voice for nurses and midwives in Australia.
Australian Nursing Federation
Two Midwives Fail To Follow Correct Procedures During Labour, UK
Two midwives have been found unfit to practise by any independent NMC panel this week after failing to adequately care for a ‘high risk’ patient during labour.
Jonathan Davies, 45, a registered midwife and nurse, was struck off the Register and his colleague at the time, Sandra Bickers, 46, in like manner a registered midwife and nurse, received the maximum caution of five years.
The panel form in a mould that Mr Davies, who did not attend the hearing, had failed to monitor the baby’s heart fitly and had not kept proper patient records.
The NMC’s Conduct and Competence Committee panel decided that both Mr Davies and Mrs Bickers were guilty of misconduct and that they had breached the NMC’s Code of Professional Conduct.
In removing Mr Davies from the Register, the panel heard that he did send express regret but has not accepted that he did anything seriously wrong.
In cautioning Mrs Bickers, the panel found that she had also failed to monitor the baby’s heart properly and had not provided suitable records of the labour. She had besides failed to communicate with and seek the help of more senior colleagues and made inappropriate and unprofessional comments to, or in the hearing of the patient.
The panel accepted that Mrs Bickers had developed good insight into the nature of her mistake and the impact it can have on those in her care. It also took into account her 19 years experience as a midwife.
Commenting put on the panel’s decision, NMC spokesperson, Colin Joseph, said, “There were more serious errors of professional judgement in this case which has led to Mr Davies being struck off and Mrs Bickers being cautioned.
Both sanctions were thought to be suitable in order to protect the public and to carry on public confidence in the profession.
The NMC’s Code of professional conduct is there to sets standards for conduct, performance and ethics. Any breaches of the Code are taken exceedingly seriously by the NMC which aims to protect the health and wellbeing of the public by continually regulating, reviewing and promoting nursing and midwifery standards.”
Notes
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the UK regulator in opposition to two professions, nursing and midwifery. The primary purpose of the NMC is protection of the public. It does this through maintaining a register of all nurses, midwives and specialist community public health nurses eligible to practise in the compass of the UK and by setting standards for their education, training and conduct. Currently the number of registrants exceeds 686,000. The Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001 (The Order), sets out the NMC’s role and responsibilities.
The independent panel is selected from a plash of individuals appointed by the Appointments Board. They come from a variety of backgrounds and are not NMC Council members, nor do they sit on any committee of the Council.
Nursing and Midwifery Council
A New Finding In Liver Transplantation And Antifibrinolytics?
Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is associated with severe bleeding and considerable transmission requirements. There are several reasons for this severe bleeding in OLT. Hemostatic abnormalities remain a major incitement.
This study, performed by a team led by Professor Wang Xuehao, is published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.
Aprotinin, a serine protease inhibitor, is used increasingly often in surgeries during operations such as cardiac surgery and liver transplantation to reduce bleeding and transfusion .We performed a meta-analysis to study the effect of aprotinin used in OLT on the intraoperative requirement of blood products and the postoperative outcomes. This study clearly showed that aprotinin can reduce the intraoperative requirement of blood products and has no significant effect on the incidence of laparotomy for bleeding, thromboembolic events and mortality.
In the explore of the authors, there are still some conflicting results on whether aprotinin can reduce blood loss or requirement of transfusion in orthotopic liver transplantation, and whether it can be beneficial to the postoperative outcomes. A systematic review of the literary productions was performed in the electronic database of Medline and the Clinical Trials Registry Databases to study the effect of aprotinin used in OLT on the intraoperative requirement of blood products and on the incidence of laparotomy for bleeding, thrombotic events and mortality.
Using meta-analysis as the statistical method, this research was performed by doctors from the Department of Anesthesiology, First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University.
More clinic researches are needed to confirm the result.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Reference: Liu CM, Chen J, Wang XH. Requirements for transfusion and postoperative outcomes in orthotopic liver transplantation: A meta-analysis on aprotinin. World J Gastroenterol 2008; 14(9): 1425-1429 http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/14/1425.asp
Correspondence to: Cun-Ming Liu, Department of Anesthesiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029,Jiangsu Province, China.
About World Journal of Gastroenterology
World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading between nations journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H pylori infection for providing a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2003-2000 IF: 3.318, 2.532, 1.445 and 0.993. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th time of every month. The WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the name of China National magazine of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.
About The WJG Press
The WJG Press mainly publishes World Journal of Gastroenterology.
Source: Jing Zhu
World Journal of Gastroenterology
Pain Receptor In Brain May Be Linked To Learning And Memory
Scientists have long known that the nervy system receptor known as TRPV1 can affect sensations of pain in the body. Now a group of Brown University scientists has found that these receptors - a darling of drug developers - also may play a role in learning and memory in the brain.
In surprising renovated research, published in the journal Neuron, Julie Kauer and her team show that activation of TPRV1 receptors be possible to trigger long-term gloominess, a phenomenon that creates lasting changes in the connections between neurons. These changes in the brain - and the related process of neural reorganization known as long-term potentiation - are believed to be the cellular basis for memory making.
“We’ve known that TRPV1 receptors are in the brain, but this is some of the first evidence of what they actually do there,” Kauer said. “And the functional role we uncovered is unexpected. No one has previously linked these pain receptors to a favose mechanism underlying memory. So we may have found a whole new player in brain plasticity.”
The study tools and materials have implications for drug development, Kauer said.
The research points completely potentially effective new targets for drugs that could prevent memory loss or could perchance treat neural disorders such as epilepsy, Kauer said. The other implication may be cautionary. Drug makers already sell drugs - such as the weight-loss pill rimonabant, which is sold in Europe subordinate to the name acomplia - that can block TRPV1 receptors. Other drugs aimed at reducing pain and inflammation by blocking or activating TRPV1 receptors are in the research pipeline. But drugs that bind to TRPV1 receptors in the central nervous system are likely to influence to a greater degree than just pain-related functions, Kauer said.
“Our findings suggest the possibility that some of the psychiatric side effects from rimonabant could be due to the blocking of TRPV1 receptors,” she said.
TRPV1, short for transient receptor potential vanilloid subtype, can be found all over the nervous system, including in skin, the spinal cord and the brain. These receptors can sense heat, trigger inflammation and transmit pain. TRPV1 receptors not only respond to heat but besides to capsaicin, the compound that creates the spicy kick in chili peppers.
In her study, Kauer, professor of medical science in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology at Brown, treated rat brain structure from the hippocampus, the brain’s seat of learning and memory, with capsaicin. The team found that this compound activated TRPV1 channels - which sole triggered long-term depression in the brain tissue. Further, rimonabant entirely blocked long-term depression by blocking TRPV1 channels.
The team then tested brain tissue from mice that lacked TRPV1 receptors and found that long-term depression was preoccupied - and that applying capsaicin calm couldn’t elicit the changes to the synapses.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Kauer’s Brown research team includes postdoctoral research associate Helen Gibson, undergraduate student Rachel Page, and graduate student Matthew Van Hook. Jeffrey Edwards, a former postdoctoral exploration associate and current neuroscience professor at Brigham Young University, also contributed to the work.
The National Institutes of Health funded the work.
Source: Wendy Lawton
Brown University
Wasps Offer Clues To Which Came First, Social Dominance Or Big Brains
There’s modern evidence supporting the idea that bigger understanding are better. A study of a tropical wasp suggests that the brainpower required to be dominant drives brain capacity.
University of Washington researchers have found that key processing regions in the brains of both males and females of one wasp species not only increased in size with age but were also associated with being ascendant. The study also showed different patterns of brain development in males and females. Certain subregions were larger in males and others were larger in females. This matched expectations based on males’ greater use of vision and females’ greater reliance on their antennae.
UW researchers Sean O’Donnell and Yamile Molina found increased brain growth in areas of the insects’ brains called the mushroom bodies, which vaguely resemble the cerebrum in humans and other vertebrates. A mushroom body sits atop each hemisphere of the wasp brain. The cryptogamous plant bodies projection input from the eyes and antennae, and are involved in learning and memory.
The social paper wasp that was studied, Mischocyttarus mastigorphorus, is unusual because males are dominant over females, a rarity among social insects, said O’Donnell, a UW associate professor of psychology. Most festive insect societies - bees, ants and wasps - are predominantly female, with males short-lived and subordinate.
O’Donnell and Molina, a UW doctoral student, focused on a office of the insects’ mushroom body, called the calyx, where neural connections are made. While the overall size of the calyces did not differ between the males and females, specific subregions were larger in each sex. Males rely on vision whereas they leave the nest for mating opportunities, and the part of the calyx that receives visual input was larger. In contrast, most female interaction takes place on the nest, to what tactile and odor senses are important and the part of the calyx that received input from the antennae was bigger among the females.
“When you are dominant among insects you get more food,” O’Donnell said, “and in this case it gives males more energy to leave the nest and mate. The fact that the males are dominant and long-lived makes this species interesting from a neurobiological point of view. We think they have pretty sophisticated cognition compared to males of other wasp species.”
The researchers studied five wasp colonies in a tropical cloud forest near Monteverde, Costa Rica. They rudimentary marked all resident adult wasps on the nests and these individuals were excluded from further analyses. Newly emerged wasps then were captured and marked over the next several days and returned to their nest. Each colony then was observed in the morning and afternoon every three days over the course of more than a month. Behavioral data such as giving and receiving aggression were collected, as convenient as time spent on and off the nest. After this observation period, sections of the wasps’ brains were examined under a microscope.
Among the unanswered questions stemming from this study include how long these wasps live and how long these patterns of brain growth continued.
“We and nothing else followed them for 42 days, so we don’t know how long they exist,” said O’Donnell. “We also don’t know if their brain development is similar to humans in terms of if and when they quick spring to decline cognitively.
He said an exciting new idea - the social challenge hypothesis - suggests that large human brains evolved in response to the demands of complex social interactions. The wasp work extends this idea to individual brain variation.
“Do you get to be dominant because of a big brain or does being dominant drive brain size? That’s stagnant an be sundered question and we don’t know which comes first,” said O’Donnell. “This study suggests the high cognitive demands of being dominant drive brain capacity and supports the social brain hypothesis. The next step is to broaden the scope of the research by looking at more species of paper wasps. We are interested in by what means brains evolve in concert with social movement. There is the intriguing possibility that there are similar patterns across remote spans of evolutionary epoch. My goal is to get a bigger sample of social wasp species and examine this.”
“You are looking at super-distant animals when you compare wasps and people. Yet there may be each interesting commonality between them. Increased brainpower may be part of being social, no matter who you are. What makes this exciting is we see some common patterns in how sense change while societies evolve. As we see changes in social complexity, there are changes in brain structure. If it is good for people it should be good for wolves, dolphins and paper wasps.”
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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The research, funded by the National Science Foundation, has been published in the online edition of the journal Developmental Neurobiology.
Source: Joel Schwarz
University of Washington
Medtronic Introduces Improvement To Minimally Invasive Treatment Of Aortic Aneurysms In Europe
Continuing its record of innovation in endovascular therapies for aortic aneurysms, Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT), today announced the European market launch of the Talent™ Abdominal Stent Graft on the new Xcelerant® Hydro Delivery System, which features a hydrophilic coating designed to take turn with navigation of the scheme through tight and tortuous arteries by reducing friction with the artery wall.
“The Xcelerant Hydro Delivery System is a significant innovation that will make endovascular repair (EVAR) using the Talent Stent Graft a treatment option for greater degree of patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms,” said Dr. Dierk Scheinert, MD, PhD, of Park-Hospital and University of Leipzig - Heartcenter in Germany, and the leader of the first team worldwide to implant the device using the new delivery system. “It will simplify the procedure for endovascular interventionalists in treating patients whose iliac arteries are difficult to navigate when they are small and tortuous.” The iliac arteries connect the femoral arteries, the entry point for stent grafts, to the aorta, the site of aortic aneurysms.
The Xcelerant Hydro Delivery System represents the seventh generation of innovation for the Talent Abdominal Stent Graft, which was introduced in Europe in April 1998. In bench testing, the Xcelerant Hydro Delivery System was shown to generate a 99 percent reduction in friction compared to the previous delivery system, which does not have the hydrophilic coating. Hydrophilic means “affinity for water”; because water is a major component of blood, the hydrophilic coating is designed to ease the delivery system’s passage through the artery.
The Xcelerant Hydro Delivery rule features a uniquely integrated sheath that contributes to the system’s low profile characteristics, which are intended to enable excellent tracking and access through small vessels.
“Experience remains the foundation of our innovations in endovascular therapy, and the Xcelerant Hydro Delivery System represents our latest innovative contribution to this exciting field,” said Katie Szyman, vice president and general manager of the Endovascular Innovations business at Medtronic. “Combined with the Talent Stent Graft, Medtronic now offers endovascular physicians in Europe an even stronger option for their EVAR procedures.”
Medtronic has been an innovator and leader in the endovascular stent graft industry for more than a decade, as evidenced by more implants than any other company. Its long history includes more than 130,000 patients treated with aortic stent grafts dating back to 1995. Medtronic currently offers the broadest portfolio of endovascular stent grafts in the industry. These contain the AneuRx AAAdvantage Abdominal Stent Graft System in the United States, and the Talent Abdominal, Talent Thoracic and Valiant Thoracic Stent Graft Systems outside the United States.
Present in an estimated one million people in Europe, an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a dangerous bulge or weakening of the body’s main artery that can rupture with fatal consequences if left untreated. If detected before rupturing, AAAs with diameters of more than twice the magnitude of the normal infrarenal aorta are typically treated with either open surgical repair or endovascular repair. In contrast to open surgical repair, EVAR involves a minimally invasive procedure in which a tube-like sleeve called a stent graft is threaded through the femoral artery in a compressed state on a delivery system and expanded inside the aorta at the site of the aneurysm. Once in place, the sleeve creates a new path for blood flow, reducing pressure on the aneurysm. The delivery system is then removed.
EVAR has been shown to be one effective therapy for AAA, with fewer postoperative complications and shorter recovery times than open-handed surgical repair. In a landmark apply the mind to conducted in the United Kingdom and published in The Lancet (Sept. 4, 2004), the 30-day mortality rate during the term of EVAR patients was 1.7 percent compared to 4.7 percent for patients who underwent open repair - a nearly threefold difference. Similarly, results from a U.S. study published recently in The New England Journal of Medicine (Jan. 31, 2008) indicate that perioperative mortality was significantly lower after EVAR than afterward open repair (1.2 percent vs. 4.8 percent - a fourfold difference).
About Medtronic
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